A community gathering July 25 for the Wilson family — Jeff and Amber and their son Shiloh — killed in the July 4 weekend flash floods in Texas drew 1,200 to Humble Civic Center, a collision center colleague of Jeff’s told Autobody News, and a Houston Chronicle report confirmed. A prayer vigil immediately after the floods drew a similar number.
The Wilsons’ bodies were found in the week following flooding. “They had the funeral with all three caskets,” said Adan Ibarra, a friend of Jeff’s and owner of Leading Edge Collision in Houston. Driving in, Ibarra saw “two fire trucks, ladders up, the Texas flag, three black hearses. A death is one thing; this is a family.
“It was just huge support, the entire community,” he said.
Ibarra said a day-long return of Shiloh Wilson’s body drew crowds. “People lined up along the route, through the towns, each side of the freeway, as they brought Shiloh home.”
A car show is planned in the Humble/Kingwood communities where the Wilsons lived and worked, Ibarra said. A November rodeo event in nearby Livingston, TX, is set to include a “Wilson3” scholarship benefit, according to a social media re-post of a rodeo announcement by Amber’s brother, John Dustin Ledford. Wilson3 is what Ledford called family in social media posts as he updated their saga.
Humble Independent School District’s Kingwood Park High School, where Jeff Wilson started a collision repair program, posted an opening for a CTE automotive teacher a few days following the family memorial.
Once and Future Collision Work
Ibarra said the high school has a temporary instructor in place for the start of the school year. A spokesperson for HISD didn’t return a request for comment, but the Chronicle article noted an emailed tribute from school principal, Wesley Solomon, recalling Wilson’s knack for reaching kids “who didn’t always fit the traditional classroom mold.”
Car show details are still being worked out, he said. One possible location is the high school, but this isn’t set. Equipment companies have donated items to raffle off and local body shop staffers will be on-hand to discuss Jeff and collision center work.
Donations to the Collision Repair Education Fund (CREF) can be given in Wilson’s memory. Under the “Donate” tab, there’s a drop-down option for “Jeff Wilson Memorial Fund.” An outside fundraising page noted by Ledford had a broken link when checked.
The MiLB Double-A level Texas League baseball clubs, including teams in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, are raising money for general flood relief.
Daniel Sullivan, who owns Sullivan’s Truck, Auto & Collision Repair in Kingwood, emailed, “The community rallied together and had an amazing sendoff for Jeff and his family.” He said further effort involves high school votech students hearing more about Wilson’s work. Sullivan said of a search for a replacement, “They will be big boots to fill.”
The family’s pastor, Bubba Miller, was quoted in the Chronicle saying the three “would give you the shirt off their backs [and what] most described the Wilson three, above all, was love.”
The Chronicle said Amber Wilson worked 27 years for a local human resources firm. Ibarra said Shiloh, age 12 and an award-winning youth rodeo rider, nicknamed “Stingray,” wanted a career on that circuit.
“They had a display of his belt buckles” for winning rodeo events, he said. “He already had a ton of them.”
News reports said Jeff was a third-generation cowboy, and among musical elements of the memorial service was a recorded rendition of country singer Clay Walker singing “Cowboys in Heaven.”
The last post on Shiloh’s rodeo-focused Facebook account was July 3, the day before the floods.
Individual obituaries for each family member and a video of the memorial service were posted online.
Paul Hughes